The Kaiju Chronicles
by Havocfrost
Summary: Sierra Primal and her pilots are one of a kind, born for research but hardened for war, they're the first and only of their class and they've been tasked with protecting the city of Los Angeles alongside their mechanical brothers. Fate and the constant flow and turmoil of war have different plans, however, and soon Sierra will see itself protecting more than just american soil.


_2018_

_Los Angeles._

_"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, for I have dug it with the bones of my enemies to stand as a testament to my might." _

Men and woman covered in drab grey uniforms suffocated the various tunnels and entrances to the L.A Shatterdome as hundreds of personnel went about the rush of their respective routines. Some were charged with weapon maintenance, others assigned to manning the domes defensive systems from their fire control rooms while the majority were dedicated to moving crates of fuel, checking and rechecking hundreds of various subsystems and testing the hundreds of moving parts of the massive humanoid walker housed in Bay Two of the sprawling reinforced building.

The smell of diesel fuel crept through the air and permeated every corner of the base, seemingly ignoring the various air filters feeding oxygen to the facility as klaxons sounded and flashing yellow lights let everyone know that their defenses were soon to be tested. Its systems ready, men and women smirked and saw that their goliath would soon walk upon the Earth once more.

Ranger Robert Abernathy tore off the thick cotton blanket that had been keeping him warm on that particularly cold night in the middle of winter and leapt to his feet, momentarily halting as the rush of blood caused his vision to cloud and his balance to wobble ever so slightly. He reached for the small locker containing his uniform's undersuit and put on the piece of equipment with all the haste of a man with a mission. It itched like it always did, hugging his six foot one frame and tugging at his chest hair and abdominal muscles whenever he extended his arm to reach for something. It was irritating to be sure but he ignored the few grievances it caused, the benefits granted by it connecting directly with his nervous system far outweighed the discomforts he had to suffer.

"Sierra Primal_, report to Bay Two for immediate launch. Category four Kaiju detected heading towards Los Angeles, ETA Thirty six minutes." _ The artificial voice of the base's A.I resonated through the small space of his quarters and he silently cursed as he realised his partner, Conner Kolton, was already at the launch point, finished the already hasty wake up with a splash of cold water on his face, obliterating the last remaining haze of sleep and rushed out the bulkhead separating his room from the rest of the world.  
He was greeted by the onslaught of the bright blue glow from the overhead lighting, the smell of diesel, oil and sweat hitting his nose and the endless stream of people rushing for the same reason he was.  
He ran through the crowd, passing between those who noticed his uniform and made a hole for him to pass through and weaving around those who didn't. It was arduous and wasted time but the facility planners had predicted this and placed the pilot quarters near to the launching point to compensate, allowing him to round the corner towards the integration pod for his Jaeger's cockpit in little under a minute.

His eyes were met with the sight of four armed guards stationed around the large bulkhead door that glistened an ivory white, its center section adorned with the swooping eagle insignia of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, the first, and last, line of defense against mankind's extra dimensional foe. His mind harkened back to the first time he'd seen the door, the first time he'd taken a Jaeger out into real combat and battled one of the monstrosities seeking passage to the vulnerable city he'd been tasked with protecting. The heightened awareness thanks to the adrenaline, the smell of sweat and air freshener in the cockpit, the satisfaction at beating the ever living shit out of a two hundred and thirty foot tall creature whose kind had devastated all before them just a few years earlier.

He loved all of it.

The memory ran through his mind as he subconsciously flashed his I.D card at the guard positioned at the door before the latter keyed in the combination to let the pilot through.  
Air hissed as the seal between the different sections was broken, allowing Robert access to the outfitting station where the rest of his suit was stored. The station wasn't like the rest of the Shatterdome, it adhered to its own aesthetic and was far more pristine than the various crew and maintenance areas located throughout the rest of the facility.

The rays of yellow from the overhead lights were replaced by the soft hue of sapphire interlaced with less prevalent shades of violet that gave the whole room the mood of a dance club, minus the overpriced alcohol, choking crowd and overpowering music.  
He covered the distance between the entrance and the section of floor devoted to the process of putting on his suit. It wasn't done by humans, the procedure would take too long to be done by hand and human error wasn't something that could be afforded when time was critical, rather, it was performed by a series of robotic limbs housed in small compartments underneath the ceramic floor.

Robert stepped onto the familiar floor tile that had the outline of a pair of boots for ease of placement while lifting his arms in the air in preparation for the addition of armoured plates to the rest of his body. Pressure sensors noted the position of his feet while laser range finders scanned his outstretched hands before giving the all clear for the rest of the process to get underway.

Immediately, other panels lining the floor retracted to reveal the robotic arms carrying the section of his armour which would integrate together like a jigsaw puzzle.  
His arms were first, several flexible pieces that mimicked the natural muscle fibre of his body locked into place with each other as several hexagonal segments the size of a bottle top attached and integrated with his undersuit. An extra layer of material was added to his boots, nearly doubling their size as his legs were given the same treatment as his arms, layers of dense yet flexible carbon fibre coating him from end to end.

A strip of interlocking hexagons was attached to the length of his spine while the outer shell of his neural helmet locked into place around the base of his skull, a plate of super strong transparent crystal added shortly thereafter to complete the transition.  
With the process complete, the robotic limbs retreated back into their holding areas to await the signal to reverse the process when the pilots returned.

If they returned.

Robert shook out his two legs and rolled his arms as he attempted to make the new white armour plating fit into place. The machines always put the various segments into place in the way they'd been programmed to but sometimes a good shake was needed to move the plates ever so slightly into a more comfortable position. After a few more moments of readjustment, he felt satisfied with the comfortableness of his protective clothing and moved towards the final airlock door that gave access to his Jaeger.

* * *

"You're late." The husky voice of Conner hit his ears as the airlock door clamped shut, the familiar hiss of pressurisation filling the room with noise.

"You're early." He responded playfully, trying to lighten the mood and alleviate the effects of pre engagement jitters. It always made Conner irritable before a fight and he tried to compensate as best he could.

"Just hurry up, we're Drifting in thirty seconds." He responded with a hint of annoyance.

The Drift, an invention by scientist Caitlin Lightcap and accidentally perfected in a nearly disastrous training incident by the crew of the early Jaeger, Brawler Yukon. A neural bridge which connected the two pilots through the memories of each of their lives, revealing all there was to know about a person. Once a pilot engaged in a drift with another, there are no more secrets between the two, the lives of each playing out in the opposite's eyes like an exchange of data between hard drives. It was the ultimate act of trust between two human beings and it didn't always prove to be a pleasant experience.

Robert stepped onto the leg clamps which allowed both pilots to "walk" the Jaeger, feeling them lock into place over the top of his feet as the spinal cord attachment he'd received during the outfitting process synced with the CONN-POD computer subsystems.

"_Drift Process initiated."_

The robotic voice of the A.I rang out again as the PONS (bridge in latin) system in his helmet began the neural handshake protocol with Conner's own. A shiver ran down the spines of both pilots, the same sensation one receives when listening to their favourite song or looking at a particularly beautiful piece of artwork as the first part of the drift neared its finish.  
He instinctively held his breath as the second phase of the Drift began and his helmet filled completely with a murky yellow liquid whose viscosity was just a bit too thick for Robert's liking.

The liquid in question was the Relay Gel that coated the exterior of a Jaeger pilot's skull, allowing for a better synaptic link between the two as their electrical impulses worked in tandem with each other. It was a miracle of modern neurological science and rather tragically, it had taken the Kaiju threat to allow it to be developed substantially. The liquid coated his head for a few more seconds before the automated draining system removed it completely from his helmet and left his brain ready for the last part of the Drift.

The final phase of a Drift was the most dangerous stage of the Jaeger activation process. Where the electrical systems and machinery had shutoff programs and redundancy measures to prevent something disastrous from occurring, the mind only had willpower and concentration to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the sensation of seeing the cumulative record of its past being replayed in a crystal clear fashion. If a pilot locked onto a particular memory, known as chasing the rabbit, they could be unable to exit the drift and the side effects of being integrated into the Jaeger's control systems while reacting to an event long since passed could be catastrophic.

Robert had drifted a total of twenty times, twice before actual combat while the rest was during simulated training, so he knew what to expect from the process. It didn't make it any less unnerving but he knew the methodology required to complete the synchronisation between himself and Conner.

"_Drift beginning in three,"_

He steadied his breathing as the countdown began, letting his heart slow down to a pace better suited towards a steady walk rather than the one currently meant for a one hundred meter sprint he was currently experiencing. He blamed the coffee mostly, too much decaf and not enough sleep.

"_Two,"_

The mental note he'd made to get his car serviced cropped up in his mind, and he found himself swotting the thought out of his head as the first bit of tingling that began just before a Drift made his hair stand on edge once again.

_"One,"_

Distraction gave way to a blank state of mind. It was similar to meditation, wiping out all thoughts for just the briefest of moments and allowing a person to truly experience a world with no worries or concerns, no bills to pay or people to call. Just . . . nothing.

_"Mark."_

Information. A massive burst of foreign consciousness burst into his mind like a river sweeping aside flood barriers and any other obstacle in its path. Memories and thoughts, prejudices and judgements, failures and triumphs, all of the very fabric which made Conner the person he was at that moment was flashed before Robert's eyes, all in tandem with his own memories.  
The process was the same for Conner who saw all of Robert's secrets, all his embarrassing moments and pain, all his happy thoughts and hopes for his future projected like a documentary twenty two years in the making.

Conner saw everything there was to know about his friend, as well. There was the moment Robert had received his first kiss from the shy girl, Carrie Hylton, at his high school, the moment he'd driven his car alone for the first time, his first time having sex, the phone call from his dad while he was in college letting him know his mother had succumbed to the cancer ravaging her brain. All of it was there, no censoring involved, no padding or biased explanation, just the truth.

The same story repeated in Robert's eyes as he saw the various personal secrets that Conner held dear to him. It was hard to not stop and just watch every part of another person's life unfold, to see their own personal story in way that was completely unique. But neither of them could afford to do so, not while they controlled a two hundred and fifty foot tall machine dedicated to the sole purpose of levelling anything that stood in its way.

The Drift neared its end, the two brains of both pilots connected with their assigned systems and merged to become one, taking full control of the Jaeger's control hemispheres and bringing the giant machine to full operational capacity. The nuclear reactor of _Sierra Primal_ surged to full power, electricity flowing to the machine's extremities and providing the energy needed to move the eight thousand tons of armour and hate fluidly.

It was efficiency made metallic flesh, the manifestation of the cumulative effort by the Human species' desire to say "Fuck you" to the denizens of hell that had emerged from the Pacific Ocean and dared threaten their dominance of planet Earth.

* * *

The uniform grey colour of the Los Angeles Shatterdome cast an imposing presence at its location between the city proper and the community of Malibu. The existing houses which had resided in its current location had been bought out by the government, and the former highway had been detoured some five miles northeast of its original location with the old road now heavily guarded and only open to authorised military personnel. The result was a solid construct of reinforced steel and concrete, laced with cannons that had been retrofitted from retired Battleships and placed on the roof of the solid shell to defend against a dedicated Kaiju attack until help arrived.

Its primary purpose, however, wasn't a refuge against assault, it was designed to house, maintain and deploy up to five Jaegers in separate bays at any one time, along with a thousand support personnel. Today, one of those bays was opening and the sight of what it revealed was something to behold. The solid doors retracted into the sides of the massive entrance and revealed the full form of _Sierra Primal._

She was a prototype Jaeger, one that was designed as a test bed for the Mark four generation, built collaboratively by Russia, China, Canada and the United States in response to the more powerful classes of Kaiju that had been recently emerging from the portal in the Pacific. Rather than cannibalise her parts once testing had been completed, she was placed under the control of the greatest contributor in funding and material to the project, the U.S, and assigned to the west coast defense once she'd been made combat ready.  
Her designers had labelled her the bastard child, a one of a kind in a class of its own.

The early morning sunlight revealed her bulk for all the world to see as the massive tracked pads underneath her feet lumbered into the cool water of the ocean. Her body wasn't smooth and uniform like some of the Mark three's, it better resembled the interlocking plates of the suits protecting her pilots more than anything else. "Pads" of additional armour were placed on the shoulders, knees and chest of the Jaeger while her control pod sat in front of a thick carapace that protected her neck from a flanking attack.

Inside her oversized gauntlets lay her deadliest weapons, two retractable mono molecular blades that channelled the excess heat of the nuclear reactor through their forms, allowing the blades to burn through the tough hides of Kaiju and cauterise the wounds before any of the toxic blood seeped into the ocean below. Her robotic fingers sported Kresnev class brass knuckles, first tested as an upgrade to _Cherno Alpha_ and later applied to all newly built Jaegers; they boosted the potential damage delivered whenever brute force was required.  
Fights demanded mobility which was granted by the powerful sets of boosters on her back that allowed her to dodge blows efficiently or gain altitude and strike from above.

The entire package was powered by a nuclear power plant of efficiency level four, the highest rating, while the various joints and artificial muscle stands were supplemented by teams of diesel engines that allowed her to move with a swiftness that rivalled the soon to be commissioned _Crimson Typhoon_.  
Fast, well protected and powerful, she was a deadly machine, not the best ever made but built for close quarter combat with the toughest of the Kaiju.

A loud metallic _clunk_ echoed across the harbour of Los Angeles, signalling that the tracked carrier vehicles had hit the shallow seabed of Las Tunas state beach. A few seconds passed before the massive legs of _Sierra Primal_ moved into action, carrying the humanoid walker off the launch pads and onto the sea floor with claps of sound that shook the earth every time her legs hit bottom.  
Leg sections rearranged as the massive ankle and knee joints flexed with the increase in speed and soon, _Sierra Primal_ was nearing her defense position some three miles out from the port itself.

* * *

From inside the Shatterdome stood Adjutant John Hollenbeck, commander of the L.A contingent of Jaegers and responsible for coordinating the defense of the U.S West coast from any alien incursions.  
His eyes swept over the various monitors of the LOCCENT Mission Control Center, watching the numerous technicians compile data flowing in from the newly deployed Jaeger and from the flight of CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters shadowing the approach of the incoming Kaiju, codenamed Hammerhead, as it appeared on their monitors.

Holograms dedicated to scanning each section of _Sierra Primal_ were located around the room which had been relit in a shade of low level white-blue light after the doors of Bay Two had closed, while the main screen that acted as an overlay to the primary viewing platform broadcast the visual feed showing progress of the Jaeger towards its defensive point.  
He moved down the ramp that separated the room into the upper monitoring section and the lower portion dedicated to control and communication. There were around fifteen people in the room in total, with the majority on the upper deck watching over the feedback reports coming in, leaving him a lot of leeway to reach the head technician, one Gavin Mallory.

Both men had served at the dome since its construction had been completed, forging a well oiled bond that allowed both to work at a level that could only be achieved with time, trust and practice.  
It was for that reason that he didn't need to ask Gavin to patch him through to the pilots, the technician simply repeated a process that had occurred half a dozen times beforehand.

"You're live, Sir, they're all yours." Gavin spoke and Hollenbeck nodded, clearing his throat before he addressed his men.

"Rangers, three hours ago we detected another Trans dimensional energy signature from the breach, a category four Kaiju that is, as we speak, ten minutes away from entering your engagement zone." He grasped both of his hands as they moved behind his back, pacing a small strip of open space as the relevant information was forwarded to the Jaeger crew.

"As you know, we have only ever encountered one category four Kaiju in the past, the one that destroyed Gipsy Danger in Alaska five months ago and as such, you are authorised to use any and all methods required to prevent the target from reaching Los Angeles."  
The images of Gipsy Danger lying broken and armless on the shores of the Alaskan coastline had served as wake up call to the PPDC, its pilots being rudely introduced to the reality that their enemy wasn't comfortable with losing.

"Marines are currently evacuating the coastal sections of the city to local shelters but there are still thousands of people remaining, do not let this bastard through. Do I make myself clear?"  
A synchronised pair of confirmations echoed over the room's loud speakers and he allowed a small smile to creep across his rugged features. Conner and Robert were a pain in the ass when they were off duty but they were damn good pilots when they were needed.

"Also, be advised that the _USS Nimitz_ aircraft carrier is currently in port and ready to deploy her fighters in support should you need them, protect that ship and it'll protect you." While conventional ground forces had managed to down the first iteration of the extra dimensional monsters, they'd done so with massive collateral damage. The F35 fighters assigned to _Nimitz_ would act as little more than a bee sting when attacking Hammerhead, but bee stings could be distracting and sometimes, a distraction was all that was needed to win a battle.

_"Sir, what if the target manages to push us back to the city, what then?"_ The smooth voice of Robert chimed in.

"Do your best to prevent civilian losses and confine fighting to whatever section of the city you're pushed back to, confirmed?"

_"Confirmed, Sir."_ It was largely pointless to give the order to confine fighting to a portion of the city. Even in the most well co-ordinated battles, the fighting usually played out like a no holds barred bare knuckle boxing match combined with the destruction and savage nature of a drunken bar fight, but it was still a nice gesture to at least ask the Jaeger pilots to not use buildings as objects to smash their opponents against.

"Good, kill him good for us, Sierra Actual, out."

The comm link closed and John watched as the radiation signature of Hammerhead edged ever closer to the eighty billion dollar war machine that stood ready to crush it, his smile creeping into a full blown grin as he saw the two fists of _Sierra Actual _smash together, signalling her eagerness for the carnage that lay ahead.

* * *

"So, what are you doing Saturday night?" Robert turned to his partner as the disks that gave both pilots the physical link they needed to "feel" the impacts their punches were delivering moved into their hands.

"What?" Conner replied with a confused look on his face as the photochromic display showed the view from the external cameras and allowed the pilots to better see the view of the Pacific.

"What do you mean what? I heard the _Mammoth Apostle_ crew got invited to some kind of party downtown hosted by the Dodgers, tons of money, food and woman are gonna be there." The _Mammoth Apostle_ had been on point defending this section of the coast for the past three and a half years, making their pilots local and national celebrities for doing so.

"You're seriously asking me this now? Seriously? Right when we're about to fight a fucking monster in hand to hand combat?" Conner knew that Robert was a joker but he thought that he'd be at least somewhat serious in a time like this.

"Dude, we got time. Seriously, did you get an invite? Cause I sure as hell didn't." Robert exclaimed, his pride and ego wounded at the unintentional insult from the local community.

"Robert, you can see into my mind so you know I didn't. Now, if you would show some concern for the task at hand, it would be greatly appreciated." One unintended side effect of the drift was that it allowed the two linked pilots to read each other's thoughts in near real time, combat related or not.

"Alright, alright, just kind of an asshole move if you ask me, I mean we're out here saving their asses and not the _Mammoth_ crew so that should at least tell them something." A small hint of jealousy crept into Roberts tone as he voiced his criticism of the local populace.

"_Mammoth_ is getting its reactor shielding upgraded so, you know, Jake and Mendez don't die from radiation poisoning." The aforementioned Jaeger was one of the few remaining Mark ones, the first iteration of the walkers cobbled together hastily in little over fourteen months to fight the invaders. Somewhere in the design process, the issue of nuclear radiation hadn't exactly been at the forefront of issues discussed.

"Yeah, good point, but still, they could at least run a news piece on us or something."

"Rob!" Conner yelled, clearly irritated at the pointless and off topic nature of the exchange. It was more due to the precedent set by Gipsy Danger's defeat than anything else and he didn't want to end up like that Jaeger.

"Alright I'll stop, jeez." He remarked dejectedly, turning his head to the see the silhouette that marked Hammerhead's approach a few miles away.

"You see that?" Robert pointed with his right hand towards the disturbed mass of water that encased the reptilian form of the incoming creature.

"Yeah, big bastard isn't he? What're you thinking, swords?" The swords gave _Sierra Primal_ the ability to cut foes down to size, quite literally.

"No that's too clean for a guy like this. I'm thinking blunt force trauma, personally." As if to add emphasis, he clenched and unclenched his fists as he imagined the sheer kinetic energy the war machine could inflict.

"Hmm, I like that plan, though we use swords if things get too rough, deal?" Conner angled his head towards Robert, willing him to agree.

"Deal." Both men performed a fist bump and turned their heads back to the swirling mass of meat and water making a bee line towards them.

The thing was substantial in size, its sheer bulk hidden by the cocoon of water that swirled around it, camouflaging the majority of its body from view. As it closed the distance to little over a mile, it rose above the waterline, shedding its casing of water and allowing the Jaeger crew to fully see what they were up against.

If it looked large underwater then it looked massive above it.

Its head revealed why it was called what it was, two large, elongated protrusions of bone jutted out at a low diagonal angle from the base of its head and four beady eyes shone an algae green as they scanned _Sierra Primal_ from their perch at the end of the bony antlers.  
Another two segments of bone, smaller than those atop its head, protruded out the bottom of its jaw, giving its face a shape similar to that of the letter X.

Its neck was thick and lined with a combination of scales and leathery skin that acted as armour and padding for the arteries and airways inside, the toxic blue blood coursing through towards the two brains of Hammerhead and slightly illuminating their path thanks to its fluorescent nature.  
Neck gave way to muscle, alien fat and crystalline spikes that glowed the same shade of green that was characteristic of all Kaiju.  
It was a powerful combination, meant to bulldoze whatever was in its path yet remain streamlined enough to glide through the ocean water with ease.

It was propelled by a moderately sized tail and four powerful legs which all ended in a quartet of razor sharp talons, each capable of cutting through armour like it was soft butter. As if that wasn't enough, the two frontal legs had an extra thick build up of organic armour to act as its own set of makeshift gauntlets, protecting against bladed weapons.

If the devil had hellhounds, then Hammerhead would certainly qualify.

"Holy shit." The two words escaped Roberts's lips without thinking as the true size of their foe revealed itself.

"I've seen bigger." Conner remarked confidently as both pilots brought up the Jaeger's fists into a fighting stance, letting loose the characteristic sound of _Sierra Primal_'s battle horn.

It had started out as a method of letting civilian ships know that one of the walkers was nearby but it had been unofficially turned into a ritual performed just before a battle, a way to counter the savage wail of the Kaiju.  
It rang out across the harbour, a screech that sounded like someone had taken a ferry horn, smashed it together with a dozen synthesizers, put the resulting concoction through an oversized trumpet and unleashed it upon the world.

_Sierra Primal_ never talked, it roared.

_"Rangers, you are cleared to engage."_ Hollenbeck's voice came across the comm link and the Jaeger's Heads Up Display switched to combat mode, highlighting the incoming beast with a small army of sensors throughout its body, giving the two warriors ample awareness of their combatant.

"Alright, time to justify our budget."

* * *

Onlookers that were brave enough to remain in their beachfront houses watched as the grotesque form of Hammerhead rose even higher above the waterline, screeching in a tone that would make a Howler Monkey jealous, before darting towards its challenger head first.  
The two titans of flesh and steel were little over four hundred meters away when Hammerhead struck, propelling itself through the air with a mighty leap from its hearty hind legs, hurling its head like a missile into the bracing Jaeger.  
Events seemed to move in slow motion, the alien hanging in the air for what seemed to be an unnaturally long time before its ironclad skull connected with _Sierra_'s breastplate.

A brass _screech_ echoed all around as the plating and layers of kinetic dampeners struggled to dissipate the sudden transferral of energy and heat, pushed to the breaking point as the two and half thousand ton creature attempted to crush the spectre of human defiance.  
Sparks flew, metal bent and skin tore but _Sierra_ countered, catching the elongated protrusions of bone by their tips and pushing back hard, dampening the momentum of the attack even as the steadfast legs of the mecha locked in place, creating two miniature trenches in the ocean floor as its body was pushed back from the opening blow.

They travelled hundreds of meters before coming to a halt, slaughtering several specimens of the local marine life in the process and bringing the duo ever closer to the city docks.  
The pilots compensated as steely fingers composed of super dense material locked in place around the thick antlers of bone and squeezed, immobilising the Hammerhead for the few precious seconds _Sierra_ needed for its counterattack.  
The creature snarled and spat acidic saliva but its beady eyes were unable to see the titanic leg rising up towards it, all it saw and felt was the shift in gravity and its plane of view being brought to a lower level.

Then the pain happened.

The armoured knee pad of the Jaeger impacted with the rapidly descending jaw of the Kaiju with predictable results. Teeth cracked, bone fragmented and metal bent as a sickening crunch of the knee joint's connection echoed all around the bay, the sound enhancing the visual spectacle for anyone watching.  
Hammerhead roared in pain and anger, blue blood seeping out of its mouth after having bit its tongue due to being caught unaware. It brought up its clawed hands and thrashed at the hip section of the mecha in an attempt to break free of its opponent's inhuman grasp. Some of the talons hit home, cutting sections of the breast plate like it was nothing and forced the two human pilots to act, lest they be dissected by the beast.

The crushing grip of the Jaeger's right hand relinquished its hold as the entire limb was brought back into the chest of the machine like a coiled spring, allowing the two eyes it had been partially covering to see what was about to happen.  
Diesel engine blocks revved and nuclear energy rippled along the electrical highways of _Sierra_'s right arm, causing the various acutators and joints to uncurl as quickly as they could manage and propel the thousand ton arm at an unnatural amount of speed.  
Hammerhead bucked and roared as it tried to break free but it was all for nought, the human engineers had designed, built and tested their Jaegers specifically to fight dirty.

Content that the creature would be unable to avoid the blow, _Sierra_ released her grip on Hammerhead's left antler and retracted her arm so that her entire upper torso swung into the attack for maximum power. There wasn't the screech of metal like the previous impacts, just a surprisingly dull _thud_ of the Kresnev knuckles crashing into the small snout of the huge Kaiju, the nostrils and skin lacking in the armour plating that encased the rest of its head.  
The shockwaves from the punch rippled down the neck of the beast as its energy travelled along the streamlined hide while the rest of the body recoiled from the blow, its hind legs involuntarily retreating a few steps as its feet dug into the soft seabed.

_Sierra_ had weathered the initial onslaught, bloodying its foe in recompense and halting its advance on the vulnerable port facility. But a few broken teeth and bone fractures were nowhere near enough to stop a Kaiju, they had to beat it until its head caved in and its brains were ripped apart by the splinters of its own destroyed skull before they could call it a day.

Hammerhead roared for the third time at the setback, its animalistic instincts sending into a frenzy to which it responded, extending its arms outwards, hunching its head and using its natural muscle to charge into the waiting Jaeger.  
_Sierra_ brought its left arm high into the air, plating shifted and reconfigured as the arm finished its ascent, and the muscle strands reversed their previous action to bring it right back down on the charging Kaiju.  
The beast reacted swiftly, unfurling its hunched head and shooting it upwards to meet the robotic limb while its left arm started the initial swing of a haymaker. The antlers meant for pulverising opponents met the fast moving gauntlet of the mecha's left arm with a dramatic _crack_ blocking the blow through sheer alien toughness and leaving the Jaeger wide open for what followed.

Both pilots of the war machine had seen the two pronged assault, the block of their fist and the haymaker and had reacted accordingly, positioning their right arm vertically to block the blow. What they failed to calculate was that Hammerhead wasn't stationary, it was moving rapidly and it didn't need either of its attacks to succeed, it just needed a distraction for its charge.

With its head still occupied with the limb of _Sierra Primal_, it wasn't the antlers that met the breastplate of the Jaeger but the tough upper chest of the category four enemy.  
Skin met carbon nanotubes and kinetic absorption discs as the unprepared legs of _Sierra_ failed to dig in and keep its upper body standing straight, the Kaiju grappling with its foe and forcing it down into the shallow pacific blue.

A miniature earthquake shook buildings and shattered glass as the back of _Sierra_ hit the ocean floor hard, the ground deforming under the combined weight of both combatants and causing large waves to ripple out from the center of the maelstrom as the Kaiju pinned the Jaeger with its mighty limbs.

* * *

_"Warning, torso hull section approaching maximum tensile strength capacity."_ The frustratingly calm voice of the monitoring A.I reported the obvious to the two pilots even as the sentence was drowned out by the warning bells and flash of hazard lights.

Through the photochromatic viewing display, both saw the steadily dripping stream of blue blood and slobber originating from the snarling mouth of Hammerhead as it widened in anticipation of crushing the now vulnerable command pod.

"Shit, we're pinned!" Conner repeated the obvious once more to his partner as the artificial feedback system simulated the crushing weight of the beast on his right arm, his muscles straining as they held the load.

"Oh really, I hadn't noticed!" Robert's hand was positioned above and to the side, a replica of the Jaegers predicament as Hammerhead pinned it with one of its own arms.

Inhumanly sharp claws cut through armour and engine blocks, robotic tendons and circuitry as Hammerhead exploited its advantage, fully intending to remove the offensive capability of her opponent before methodically ripping her to shreds, starting with the control pod.

"Shut up, we need to break its hold!" The holographic damage readout around both pilots arms slowly shifted from optimal blue to a damaged red along the various components they represented.

"Hang on, I've got an idea!" Robert exclaimed.

Neurons fired inside his brain as Robert's idea was converted into readable data, flowing through the command pathways that linked him with his machine and formulated into translatable instructions for the weapons systems to follow.  
Instructions turned into actions as the back segments of the Jaeger reconfigured and the water between the Jaeger and the ocean floor climbed hundreds of degrees in temperature, solid rocket propellant igniting to produce thousands of pounds of thrust, lifting the combined bulk of Hammerhead and _Sierra_ off the ocean floor and allowing the latter to break free of the Kaiju's hold.

"Tag, motherfucker!" The weight constricting both man and machine disappeared and the strategy of reprisal took over.

The claws of Hammerhead slipped and lost their grip on their opposite numbers thanks to the sudden burst of movement and speed from _Sierra_, eliminating her handicap and allowing her to clench both of her fists and bring them hurtling towards either side of the monster's head.  
Both landed in the gap between the primary and secondary antlers, the weak point protected only by skin and soft tissue, discombobulating the beast as the inner workings of her skull rocked from the shockwaves of the double fist combo.

It didn't get the chance to cry out in protest as the right arm of _Sierra_ retreated back to the side and halted before its pilots ordered it to arc into a haymaker. Its momentum augmented by the rotating torso of the machine as well as its own robotic muscle, it smacked into the dazed Kaiju like freight train, raw savage power knocking Hammerhead from its standing position down to its knees.  
Robert and Conner reversed the leftward swing of the haymaker and ordered both robotic hands to lock together like a giant club, bringing the torso and arm back towards the now crouched Hammerhead with all their might.

Off balance from the previous booster assisted assault and still dazed from the haymaker, Hammerhead failed to brace against the duel fist projectile that crashed into the center of its face. Nerve endings overloaded from the sheer pain and the monstrous beast toppled to the side with an earth shattering _thoom,_ its body hitting bedrock like a sack of bricks.  
It was then that both pilots noticed the two dozen green blips moving rapidly towards them on their radar screen, fiery angels of whispering thunder piloted by men of the _USS Nimitz._

* * *

Captain Hollis Stahl felt the increased pressure of gravity pulling him into his seat as his F35B Lightning fighter banked in the vast nothingness of the air above Los Angeles, followed closely by nearly two dozen of his compatriots as the wings of their craft dug into the blue morning sky.  
Rookies often struggled to cope with the increased tug of the Earth as the G-forces increased but to him, they were like a subtle reminder that he was flying, rather than an overpowering weight on his chest. He'd clocked enough hours, flown enough missions and evaded enough SAM fire to overcome that weight and focus his attention solely on the things that actually mattered.

Today, those things encompassed directing his squadron to the pre designated rally point just over three thousand feet above the deserted harbour of the city, their orders being to provide any and all support to the crew of _Sierra Primal_ as it fought hand to hand with the creature seeking passage to the hapless civilians both he and the Jaeger sought to protect.  
His helmet mounted display system blazed green through the clear upside down heart shaped glass of his helmet, weapon bays reading ready to open and unleash his payload of four, one thousand pound bombs on the titan of alien flesh and blood.

That's all the Kaiju were, after all, just flesh and blood, and if humanity had learnt anything from their thousands of years of existence; it was that if it bled, they could kill it.  
Hollis continued his wide bank around the bay, passing through the few cotton candy clouds present and orienting his fighter towards the giant body of Hammerhead as the rest of his squadron followed suit.

"Sierra Actual, this is Thunder One One, requesting permission to piggyback on Sierra Alpha's targeting telemetry, over._"_ Hollis's calm demeanour carried over the airwaves as his targeting computer pinged its counterpart onboard the Jaeger.

"_Permission granted, feeding it to you now."_ The technicians inside the control room of the Shatterdome allowed the F35's to consume the vast sum of ones and zeros that translated into targeting co-ordinates for their self contained computers.

Said information travelled down the miles of wiring inside each plane towards the four containers of high explosive that sat comfortably in the internal bomb bays of the sleek fighter craft, their own guidance systems continuously updating as their carrier checked air speed, drag, crosswinds and temperature before they were set to be dropped.  
The HMDS lit up the individual weak points of the Kaiju, continuously shifting as the Jaeger continued its series of rapid strikes to its frontal section before the tone of a good target lock rang in Hollis' ear, as it did for the twenty three other pilots following him.

"Sierra Actual, JDAM package inbound. ETA two one seconds, how copy?" Hollis quizzed as his bomb bay doors opened.

"Solid copy Thunder One One, light 'em up nice and bright." The technicians sense of anticipation was not lost on the pilot as his thumb depressed the weapon release button.

Targeting computers checked and rechecked their co ordinates before the clamps holding the thousand pound bombs relinquished their hold on the canisters of death, allowing them to fall freely towards the surface of the planet. The onboard targeting computer took over a few seconds later, fin stabilisers righting the free fall into a directed dive towards the monster while the detonation caps primed for impact.  
Dozens more of the JDAM's filled the air as the F35's roared upwards and away from the chaos below, back into flight path that would bring them safely back towards the flight deck of the _USS Nimitz_.

The made next to no noise as they fell through the air, only the slight whisp of their fins course correcting their descent and the glint of their tails reflecting the rays of sunlight informed anyone that they were there. Ninety four bombs fell towards Hammerhead's spine, eighty seven thousand kilograms of high explosive ready to scorch the vulnerable back of the Kaiju.  
Their electronic brains watched as the fight unfurled, colossal blows exchanged between the two before the Jaeger managed to create a sizable chunk of distance between it and the monster. Its crew knew about the bombs, saw the impact counter slowly tick down to zero and they'd desired to escape the danger zone as quickly as possible.

The stealthy approach of the bombs paid off, and Hammerhead didn't notice them until the surge of heat and pressure rocketed up its back followed by the roar of Pratt and Whitney engines screeching overhead.  
Small clouds of crimson flame and oily black smoke walked up the protruding spinal cord of the Kaiju, pock marking the lower, center and upper portions of the beasts body, cratering the skin and bursting any near surface blood vessels with a tidal wave of pressure.  
It was like a back massage with hot coals shot out of a tennis ball machine, burning, ripping and scarring the tough alien hide with military firepower.

"Sierra Actual, we have good hit, repeat good hit on target, over." Having shed four thousand pounds in weight, the F35's flew majestically away from the battle, their wing tips catching the glare of the numerous fireballs down below.

_"We see it, Thunder One One, thanks for the assist."_ The Shatterdome signalled the all clear for _Sierra Primal_ even before the conversation had recommenced and the Jaeger closed in to finish off the creature.

* * *

"Ok, can we _now_ go for blades?" Conner pleaded, he didn't particularly like the surprise tackle from earlier and now much preferred to outright butcher the Kaiju.

"Aww, but we were having so much fun!" Robert grinned as he reached up to the small panel in front of him and pressed the release button responsible for unsheathing the massive blades housed in _Sierra_'s gauntlets.

Interlocking segments of extremely sharp material slid out of the Jaeger's wrists with the flexibility of a whip before locking into place to form two solid lengths of sharpened monomolecular material.

"I'd think those antlers are due for a trimming, wouldn't you say?" Robert grinned as the blades extended to their full length, increasing _Sierra_'s effective attack range considerably.

"Agreed. Let's take him to the vet." Conner nodded and soon the legs of the Jaeger leapt into motion.

The distance between the two opponents shrunk considerably over the next few seconds as the mecha charged, lifting its right arm into the air in preparation of bringing its razor sharp blade down on the rampaging animal.  
Water sloshed around its feet and waves rippled outwards as the Jaeger reached the apex of her charge, bringing her arm down as fast as it could to slice into the exposed antler of Hammerhead.  
The blade connected directly in the middle of the bone formation, slicing into the antler with an impact coated in calcified dust and massive sparks before cutting cleanly through half a second later.

The now loose length of bone slipped down slowly into the waves below, the freshly severed end crumbling into lots of smaller pieces from the sudden stress of breaking off from the rest of its body. Somewhere, a black market dealer was crying tears of joy at the thought of the potential profits from that bone alone.  
_Sierra_ followed up her strike with a stab into the vulnerable collar of the Kaiju, searing heat cauterising the entry wound as it cut deep into weak point of the beast, severing arteries, air passages and everything else that lay in its path.

The Jaeger brought her free hand into to strike in a similar fashion, puncturing along the opposite side of the collar. Hammerhead slashed and bucked under the impalement of the two blades, gnashing its teeth and lashing out to try and grab a hold of _Sierra_'s shoulder joint with its huge jaw as the machine stepped forward, driving the swords deeper into the Kaiju's chest.  
Both of them shifted, the Jaeger forcing the alien back as it recovered the loss of ground caused by the initial charge, the shoulder mounted cameras showing the damage caused by the high explosive bombs as scorched pieces of scale and skin sagged off and broke free to fall into the ocean below.

A final thrust by both of the mecha's arms sank the blades as deep as they would before they retreated, both covered in thick coatings of blue blood as they exited their entry points.  
_Sierra_ brought her arms back up into a coiled position, both surging forward again towards the neck of Hammerhead. Metal groaned in protest at the sudden exertion as the lengthy swords sliced sideways into the Kaiju's elongated neck, blue blood gushing outwards of the two new holes as the swords cut through the primary arteries.

It wasn't able to scream, the blades blocked the passage of air to its vocal chords and all it could manage to utter was a guttural cough of blood and sad realisation. The realisation that it was now mortally wounded, the liquid delivering nutrients to it brains and keeping it conscious now seeping out of the freshly inflicted wounds faster than it was reaching where it was needed.  
It was a lightning fast attack; the blades retracting from their latest incision faster than the now flailing Kaiju could react, its claws swooping from side to side as the Jaeger dodged the frantic blows easily, the robot's blades retracting back into their sheaths, no longer needed for the remainder of the battle.

"Didn't the vet recommend some physical therapy for that tension in his neck?"  
Conner pulled back his left arm in unison with his co pilot, the Jaeger following the simulated movements of its masters as they coiled their arms back for the impending punch.

The whine of servos and hydraulic pumps could be heard even through the thick walls of the control pod but to the two pilots, it let them know their war machine was still going strong. It purred with the grace of an Abrams tank and hit just as hard, as exemplified by what happened next.  
_Sierra_'s left arm smashed into Hammerhead's face with a mighty crack, finally fragmenting after the dozen or so impacts that the Jaeger had inflicted and allowing it to further sever the arteries supplying the beast's brains before causing it to back away a few dozen meters, the earth shaking with every step.

The Jaeger pressed on, hammering the rents in the collar section and skull of Hammerhead with repeated strikes from its fists and knees, savaging the alien with all its fury and mechanical might.  
Punch after punch, jab after jab, kick after kick, the conglomeration of human engineering and perseverance decimated the alien creature with pure unadulterated violence, its gauntlets' armoured padding bending inwards from the from the rapid fire attacks.

"I'd say this one's had enough. Conner, shall we?" He flexed his fist for emphasis, the hologram surrounding it shifting to compensate.

"Let's." Conner responded with a sadistic grin.

Both pilots clenched their fists together and lifted them into the air, the Jaegers arms following the action as hydraulic pumps shifted the thousand ton limbs into the clear blue sky.  
Hammerhead failed to see it, the haze of blood loss obscuring its eyes to the deathblow that was soon to befall it.  
The Gauntlets of _Sierra_ shifted once more, not to unsheathe her blades but to open up the vectoring ports of four large solid fuel thrusters, two to each arm. Both fired as the Jaeger's arms reached the end of their climb, turning the slow ascent into a rapid descent, the clenched fists propelled by robotic muscle and thousands of pounds of thrust, straight into the lowered skull of Hammerhead.

For the Kaiju, it was to be the last thing it felt. The tough exterior of its upper head shattered under the impact of the two thousand ton weight hurtling into it. Bone broke off and splintered inside the pulpy interior of its head like a shotgun shell, eviscerating soft tissue and brain matter with contemptuous ease, all before the actual fist broke into the brain chamber, crushing whatever had remained intact from the bone projectiles.

The steely fingers weren't finished, they unwrapped from around each other to hold the beast aloft just a bit longer, the left hand grasping the still intact antler and lifting while the sheathed sword of the right unfurled again into its solid state.  
The right arm ducked underneath the Kaiju's head as the left lifted it higher into the air, the violent thrashing of before now absent as the last remaining neurons inside its destroyed brain fired whatever thoughts and commands were left down its nervous system.

One last thrust from _Sierra Primal_ sent the super heated blade directly into the center portion of the Kaiju's skull, burning away any doubt as to whether the alien could keep fighting.  
It stayed there for a little over a dozen seconds, flesh cooking to a crisp state before the sword exited Hammerhead's skull and the fingers wrapped around its antlers ceased gripping the alien weapon, the entire creature flopping slowly towards the harbour floor.

They pilots of Jaeger model one seven beta codenamed _Sierra Primal_ didn't hear the cheers and cries of support from the crowds who'd disobeyed the evacuation order, nor did they see the flyby of the second wave of F35's dispatched to support them. All they saw and heard was the fall of the second recorded category four Kaiju, its bodily fluids and brain matter flowing out of its now lifeless carcass as it collided with the sea floor, waves of water and fluorescent blue blood spilling out in all directions.

It had been a match of David versus David, one alien and one human. The humans had built a better David and _Sierra Primal _and her crew celebrated the fact, arms doused in alien blood raised high into the air in celebration of their victory and readiness to face the monsters that sat on their proverbial doorstep.

There might come a day when the Kaiju might defeat mankind's defenses, but it was not this day.

* * *

_**Authors note: Even though I have two other stories to work on, I couldn't help but write this little piece when I saw that this section of was was lacking in descriptions of action. If you guys like it, I might write a bit more for this fic.**_


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